Mini Reviews: Psycho || The Snowman

Psycho by Robert Bloch

Series: Psycho #1

Genre: Horror

Pages: 224

Publication date: 1959

It was a dark and stormy night when Mary Crane glimpsed the unlit neon sign announcing the vacancy at the Bates Motel. Exhausted, lost, and at the end of her rope, she was eager for a hot shower and a bed for the night.

Her room was musty but clean and the plumbing worked. Norman Bates, the manager, seemed nice, if a little odd . . .

Likes: You guys know this story, right? Creepy dude and his mommy run a motel and murder people? It’s a classic. (And it should be. It’s a freakin’ terrifying book.)

Even though I’d seen the Psycho movie a bunch of times and knew the story, I still liked the book. It’s short and quick paced. I read it in a few hours. Norman Bates is one of the most messed up villains in the history of literature. He’s awkward and unassuming on the outside, but on the inside, he’s a raging, hate-filled psychopath. Reading from his perspective is unnerving.

I think this story has been scaring people for 60 years because it plays with two common fears. Fear 1: You can never fully know a person. Someone you see every day could have a swamp full of decaying bodies on their property, and you’d never know it. Fear 2: Spending the night in an unfamiliar place. One of the creepiest scenes in this story is when Norman is spying on Mary through a crack in the wall. She thinks she’s alone in the bathroom of her motel room, but she’s not. Norman is always watching and judging.

“Mary started to scream, and then the curtains parted further and a hand appeared, holding a butcher's knife. It was the knife that, a moment later, cut off her scream. And her head.” – Psycho

Dislikes: Does Tor (the publishing company) employ proofreaders, or copyeditors, or someone with a basic understanding of Microsoft Word? Like pretty much every Tor book I’ve read, this one is full of obvious typos.

For modern readers, I think Psycho is a bit predictable and dated. Even if you haven’t seen the movie a dozen times, it’s fairly easy to pick up on the foreshadowing. At the end of the book, the characters try to psychologically analyze Norman. The 1950s were a different time. I don’t know if modern doctors would totally agree with the characters’ assessment.

The Bottom Line: If you’re a horror fan, this is a must-read. It helped shaped the horror genre that we all love today. I recommend it.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø

Series: Harry Hole #7

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 550

Publication date: August 2007

SOON THE FIRST SNOW WILL COME.

A young boy wakes to find his mother missing. Their house is empty, but outside in the garden, he sees his mother's favorite scarf wrapped around the neck of a snowman.

AND THEN HE WILL APPEAR AGAIN.

As Harry Hole and his team begin their investigation, they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years.

AND WHEN THE SNOW IS GONE . . .

When a second woman disappears, it seems that Harry's worst suspicions are confirmed: for the first time in his career, Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his home turf.

. . . HE WILL HAVE TAKEN SOMEONE ELSE.

Likes: People have been talking about The Snowman for years. It has awesome Goodreads reviews and became a movie a while ago. Even though it’s part of a series, it (supposedly) works as a standalone, which I appreciate. When I found a used copy of The Snowman at the bookstore, I decided that it was finally time to read it.

The main character—who is unfortunately named Harry Hole—is a detective with the Oslo police. He’s charged with figuring out why an unusual number of women go missing each winter. As Harry investigates, the plot becomes twisted and completely unpredictable.

When you’re reading a mystery, nothing is more disappointing than uncovering the identity of the murderer before the characters do. I’m happy to report that I didn’t guess the murderer! Harry was always several steps ahead of me. There are so many plot twists that I never knew what was going to happen next.

“I’ve read that it’s the smell some carnivores use to find their prey. Imagine the trembling victim trying to hide, but knowing that the smell of its own fear will kill it.” – The Snowman

Dislikes: Unpopular opinion time: I didn’t like this book. It has very high ratings on Goodreads, so maybe you shouldn’t listen to me, but it’s not my kind of novel.

I have many issues with The Snowman. First, it’s either poorly written or poorly translated. It was originally written in Norwegian, but I read the English version. The writing is bland and amateurish. There are a lot of clunky run-on sentences. I don’t know if this is the author’s fault or the translator’s fault.

Next, Harry Hole is a cliché. I feel like I’ve seen this character before. He drinks and womanizes too much. (All of the female characters in this novel are whores, liars, or sex objects for the male characters to salivate over.) Harry is smarter than everybody else and insists on doing everything alone. He seems to have emotional and relationship troubles. Somehow, he never gets fired, even though he constantly breaks the law. Harry is basically every fictional detective character ever. I couldn’t get invested in his story.

Finally, the plot is silly. I don’t want to give away spoilers because this is a thriller, but the plot is far-fetched. I plowed through the slow, meandering beginning, and then I reached a silly ending. I am not amused.

The Bottom Line: I won’t be reading any more of the series.